St. Petersburg, FL Invasive Plant Rules: Prohibited Species (2026)

Section 16.40.060.2.1.6(D) of the St. Petersburg City Code holds the city's prohibited tree list. It makes three acts unlawful anywhere within the City limits: planting a listed tree, causing one to be planted, and selling or offering one for sale. The current table, amended by Ordinance No. 611-H on July 10, 2025, names nine species: earleaf acacia (Acacia auriculiformis), Australian pines of every Casuarina species, Brazilian pepper, carrotwood (Cupaniopsis anacardioides), chinaberry (Melia azederach), Chinese tallow (Triadica sebifera), lead tree (Leucaena leucocephala), punk tree (Melaleuca quinquenervia) and strangler fig (Ficus aurea). The Code prints the Brazilian pepper entry with the spelling "Schnius terebinthifolius", so search by the common name when you check a plant.

The ban also reaches development sites. Any development or redevelopment that must obtain a landscaping permit or file a landscape plan has to remove all prohibited trees on the property and on the abutting right-of-way, and the application must include a plan to prevent re-growth. Both steps come before approval of a certificate of occupancy, so an uncleared listed tree on the lot or on the strip in front of it holds up the final sign-off.

Three neighboring rules in the same landscape section matter in practice. Subsection C lets an owner remove any unprotected or prohibited tree from private property and the abutting right-of-way without a permit, unless the tree is part of an approved landscape plan or is otherwise required by the section. Trees on either list also cannot be used to meet the vegetation the section requires. And where a vehicular use area keeps healthy native vegetation, the designated reviewer (the POD) can give credit for it but must exclude trees on the unprotected and prohibited species lists. Under § 16.40.060.2.1.7(D), a POD decision to approve or deny a landscape plan can be appealed by the property owner to the Development Review Commission, whose decision is final for the City. The stated purpose in § 16.40.060.1.1 includes conserving water through the removal of nuisance and invasive vegetation.